THE PRINCE - A RE-READ

Two
worlds of wealth and passion call to Nora Sutherlin and, whichever one she
chooses, it will be the hardest decision she will ever have to make. Unless
someone makes it for her…

Wes
Railey is the object of Nora's tamest yet most maddening fantasies, and the one
man she can't forget. He's young. He's wonderful. He's also thoroughbred
royalty and, reuniting with him in Kentucky,
she's in his world
now. But this infamous New York dominatrix is no simpering Southern belle, and
Nora's dream of fitting into Wesley's world is perpetually at odds with the
relentlessly seductive pull of Søren—her owner, her lover, the forever she
cannot have. At least, not completely.

Meanwhile
Nora's associate Kingsley Edge is only too happy to take her place at Søren's
feet during her hiatus. Søren is the only man Kingsley has ever loved, and
their dark, shared history has forged a bond that neither the years—nor Søren's
love for Nora—can break. But a new threat from an old adversary is forcing
Kingsley to confront the past, reminding him that he must keep his friends
close, and his enemies closer.

“In all things involving Nora Sutherlin,
proceed with caution.”

And
so I come to the end of re-reading the first three Original Sinners books and
find myself almost ready to, at last, start on “The Mistress”. And I have to
say that the whole process of reading these books again has been an immense
pleasure. I honestly think I enjoyed “The Siren”, “The Angel” and “The Prince”
more on this second read than I did the first time. When I encountered these
books first I got too caught up in the excitement of the stories, was in too
much of a rush to get to the end, too desperate to find out what would happen
to these characters to pay a lot of attention to the actual writing and any
hidden hints or clues.

If
I’m honest, I still had trouble slowing myself down while reading. Knowing the
story, being well prepared for what was about to transpire didn’t make my need
to witness it all again any less. But, I do think I got more out of this book
this time around. Not only because I had read this book before but also because
I was now more familiar with all the characters in the story which meant that
references which had been meaningless on the first read suddenly took on a
deeper meaning.

This
review, like my reviews of the re-reads I did of “The Siren” and “The Angel”,
will be loosely based around quotes from the book.And to be perfectly honest, this is a rather
random collection of quotes. I could have copied twice this amount of fragments
with ease and they would have been just as powerful, beautiful and/or
inspiring. But, since this is supposed to be a review and not an exercise in
copying most of the book, I tried to restrain myself.

This
is very clearly the penultimate book in this series. You can feel things coming
to a head while the story progresses. The tension is definitely building, the
sense of danger getting stronger and the clues as to who is threatening our
Sinners easier to decipher. At the same time, this book gives us an insight in
to Kingsley and his relationship with Søren as well as a close look at Wesley’s
background.

Nora
has once again left Søren for Wesley and has travelled to Kentucky with the young man she knows is
probably wrong for her but can’t resist:

“Life with
Søren seemed like a beautiful prison most days, a prison she would never leave.
Only Wesley’s absence had made it feel like a punishment, not a palace...”

And while she misses Søren and the kinks only he
can provide her with, Nora is delighted to be reunited with her former intern:

“God damn,
she had missed this kid – so fucking much that being back with him hurt almost
as much as letting him go had.”

For Wesley things are more straightforward. He
loves Nora, he wants Nora and he desperately needs to keep Nora away from Søren
and the pain the priest inflicts upon the woman Wesley adores.

“Damn. No
other word for Nora Sutherlin. Just damn” (Wesley)

And, at long last, Nora and Wesley have their
moment of intimacy; a first for both of them. Wesley loses his virginity and
discovers a world of pleasure he never imagined existed:

“He
worshipped at the altar of her body and for a moment he felt the power of their
union as a communion”

But it’s a first for Nora as well. As experienced
as she may be in everything kinky, it isn’t until she gets together with Wesley
that she experiences “vanilla” sex.

While Nora and Wesley are getting to know each
other far more intimately, Kingsley and Søren are trying to figure out who is
threatening their secrets and way of life. This journey will take them back to
the school where they first met, the place where young Kingsley submitted to
and fell deeply in love with Søren.

“There is nothing you could do to me now that
I wouldn’t want”

And their coming together is a brutal one, without
restraint or mercy and at times shocking but also powerful and heartbreaking.

“He’d run
because he’d wanted to get caught. He’d let himself be stripped and violated.
And when he surrendered himself to Søren, that had been the moment he became
himself.”

Yes, the scenes describing Søren and Kingsley’s
affair where at times, for me, difficult to read. In fact, when I read the
following quote I couldn’t help thinking that trying not to watch would
probably be a wise decision on God’s part, although I couldn’t have looked away
(or skimmed the pages) if somebody had paid me to do so.

“It did
have the scent of destiny on it – you and I.
God did bring us together. Only when we were together...like that, I think He
tried not to watch” (Kingsley to Søren)

UK edition

Because the way they share their love for each
other may be way beyond my comfort zone, I can’t deny that it is also beautiful
and intriguing. And I love the stark contrast between Kingsley and Søren’s
relationship and the one between Nora and Wesley.

And so I have once again the reached cliff-hanger
that ends The Prince only this time I won’t have to wait ages before I find out
how it will all end. I have my copy of “The Mistress” waiting for me and will
be starting it in just a few days. I can’t wait to find out how Tiffany Reisz
is going to pull all the story-lines together and how she will manage to give
happy endings to most, if not all, of these characters.

Just
because I can't resist and did enjoy linking a song to my review of "The
Angel" I decided to include another one here. The links to the story in
"The Prince" are tentative at best, but since the song includes the
line "I think it's time to run" I figure I might get away with
it. I hope you'll enjoy "Fever
Dream - Fight or Flight" by Tara Kennedy.

And then there is one quote that I had to share
just because I couldn’t agree more with the sentiment:

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About Me

My name is Marleen. I'm Dutch but have been living in Ireland for well over 15 years now. I have a passion and love for reading and books. Since early 2008 I have been lucky enough to have been working part time in the library in Bailieborough, Co. Cavan where among other things I run the library reading group.
I will read almost anything that has words in it, and post my thoughts on everything I read in this blog:

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